The invention concerns a drive system of a mowing arrangement including at least two mowing units.
It is known practice to fasten three mowing units to a common carrier and to connect these to a self-propelled forage harvester. (CLAAS, High Output Mowing Widths, No publication date). Each mowing unit is provided with a belt drive transmission on the side in the region of the center of the vehicle through which a mowing head and, if available, a crop processing arrangement can be driven. The transmissions of each mowing unit are configured and arranged individually.
The problem underlying the invention is seen in the fact that the known configuration of a drive system leads to high costs and that an interchangeability of the mowing units in case of damage cannot be attained in practice.
According to the present invention there is provided an improved drive arrangement for multiple mower units.
An object of the invention is to provide a drive arrangement for multiple mower units constructed such that at least two of the mowing units have identical transmission arrangements whereby the two mowing units can be exchanged without changing the transmission.
A more specific object of the invention is to provide a drive arrangement, as set forth in the previous object, wherein the traction unit carries a main transmission which is coupled to power-receiving transmissions of the mowing units by telescopic shafts, which permit the mowing units to move relative to the main transmission.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a drive arrangement for right- and left-hand mower units wherein the power-receiving transmission of each mower unit is provided with an input shaft which may be driven from either end thus permitting either mower unit to be mounted on either side of the traction unit.
Another object of the invention is to provide a mowing arrangement wherein the configuration of one, several or all transmissions as pivoting transmissions, for example, constructed with two angle drive gear boxes that can be pivoted about an axis relative to each other, with the advantage that the power-receiving transmission can be configured the same for all mowing units, since the input shaft can be oriented to the position of the main transmission.
A further object of the invention is to releasably mount the main transmission to a carrier part that is repositioned with changes in the operating height of the mowing units, but that can be repositioned with respect to these and thereby is not moved, for example, during the positioning of the cutting angle, whereby the changes in the spacing and the angle between the associated input and output shafts are held to a minimum.
These and other objects will become apparent from a reading of the ensuing description together with the appended drawings.